Full Freeview on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.460,-3.282 or 51°27'35"N 3°16'57"W |  | CF5 6SA |
The symbol shows the location of the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmitter which serves 360,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) mast?
Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
_______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Wenvoe transmitter broadcast?
If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Wenvoe transmitter?
BBC Wales Today 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 2YQ, 6km northeast (42°)
to BBC Wales region - 206 masts.
ITV Cymru Wales 1.2m homes 4.7%
from Cardiff CF5 6XJ, 1km east-northeast (74°)
to ITV Wales region - 206 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Abergwesyn | Active deflector | 7 km N Llanwrtyd Wells | 20 homes |
| Barry | Transposer | 10 km SW city centre | 300 homes |
| Celtic Manor | Transposer | 5 km E Newport | 80 homes |
| Pentrebach | Transposer | 3 km S Merthyr Tydfil | 100 homes |
| Ystradfellte | Active deflector | 30 km NE Port Talbot | 20 homes |
How will the Wenvoe (Cardiff, Wales) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1950s-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2010 | 2010-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 15 May 2019 | ||
| VHF | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E T | B E K T | W T | W T | ||
| C5 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C30 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | +ArqB | ArqB | ||||||
| C41 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | +BBCA | +BBCA | +BBCA | BBCA | ||
| C42 | +SDN | +SDN | +SDN | SDN | |||||
| C44 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||
| C45 | +ArqA | +ArqA | +ArqA | ArqA | |||||
| C47 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | BBCB | ||
| C49tv_off | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C51tv_off | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | LCF | LCF | ||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 3 Mar 10 and 31 Mar 10.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com8 | (-9.7dB) 53.2kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 50kW | |
| com7 | (-10.3dB) 47kW | |
| Mux 1*, LCF | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-20dB) 5kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Wenvoe transmitter area
|
|
Monday, 30 October 2023
Transmitter engineering
5:11 AM
5:11 AM
Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 30/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
| link to this comment |
Transmitter engineering
5:11 AM
5:11 AM
Wenvoe transmitter - Wenvoe transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 30/10/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels [DUK]
| link to this comment |
Friday, 3 November 2023
T
Tony123410:10 AM
Transmitter engineering: Good morning transmitter engineering Wenvoe.
I am not getting
multiplex PSB3 BBCB Channel 47
or
COM6 ARQB channel 39
and have not done so for over the week I have been working on it. I have done everything they all say on two separate tuning devices. Auto retune with no lead connected to remove all tuning data and then auto retune, alternate same but manual retune. Devices connected each separately together in every combination. Always the same - nothing not a single channel from those two multiplexes.
I am 12 miles west from Wenvoe and can see the upper part of the mast. The lower section of the mast is blocked by terrain. According to all the information for my postcode I should be getting both signals "strong" with no problems. Is there some engineering work going on in respect of those two multiplexes?
| link to this comment |
C
Chris.SE1:34 PM
Tony1234:
Hi again. Transmitter Engineering don't post here directly. The notification is merely a re-direct of engineering info collated by this site, so I'm afraid no update or extra news.
I have checked again just now, and there's no reported faults that I can find, so the assumption is that it's the Planned Engineering.
If you go to the very top RHS of this page and click on the cog-icon there, and enter your full postcode, this might throw some additional light on your predicted reception.
| link to this comment |
C
Chris.SE1:43 PM
Tony1234:
Update.
Whilst it will still be useful to know about your predicted reception as mentioned above,
I've just found some further information about what is going on at Wenvoe - work on transmitter mast stays. It talks about engineers working at height and close to the mast and reduced power and shut downs.
Whilst the article is primarily about the FM services, it does give a passing mention to TV at the end of the article. It's pretty obvious that reduced power on some of the TV transmissions may be required when work is so close to the mast. Shame the item isn't more explicit!
| link to this comment |
Saturday, 4 November 2023
T
Tony12348:36 AM
Cowbridge
Chris.SE: Many thanks for your two replies. Yes so engineering works - greasing of stays - are ongoing and they have given themselves until the end of November as the current time frame. And these may or may not be causing my problems. When I put my post code in, the results are like just over a week ago - I should be getting good reception on Com6 and PSB3 just like the same as the other mulltiplexes. I see Arquiva have gifted themselves a policy of not dealing with any enquires from the public who pay their wages so I contacted the BBC. They came back after 24 hours to also say engineering works were ongoing but that these should not affect my reception but may do, but they could not be sure. Presumably this is because they have no direct transparency through to Arquiva's works.
| link to this comment |
Tony1234's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE4:04 PM
Tony1234:
Hi. This is obviously frustrating.
Whilst the BBC were unable to be certain whether or not your reception may be affected (no doubt at any given time) I doubt very much they have no "transparency" of the work. They will know exactly who to contact at any given time if they need up-to-date information that doesn't get to them automatically.
The difficulty here is that predictions are based on measurements done some while ago across the area with the transmitter operating normally and with the (external) reception aerial 10m above ground level.
They will not know where you aerial is or what the precise likely effect would be for you when on the Reserve Antenna.
However, I still have a niggling feeling something isn't quite right. Where is your aerial? If it's not external on a pole, and it's in a loft, has it been disturbed at all?
Are there any external things on the roof or changes to the roof, such as lead flashing on the line of sight, solar panels near, new electric cables, water tanks, metal flues, scaffolding, etc.
Are there any trees that have grown tall, new tall buildings etc. very nearby or on the line of sight?
Have you altered anything at all or moved any equipment since you last had continuous trouble free reception?
| link to this comment |
C
Chris.SE4:06 PM
Tony1234:
Forgot to ask, do you get the Local multiplex UHF C37?
| link to this comment |
S
Steve Donaldson4:30 PM
Tony1234: I am wondering whether something has changed along the signal path, within a short distance from your property.
You have said you can see the top of the mast but not the lower part. This terrain plot suggests that anything up to around mile out could be in the first Fresnel zone:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
There is the line-of-sight and the Fresnel zone, the area around the line-of-sight in which objects could "potentially" affect reception. This is indicated on the plot with the purple line, line-of-sight being the yellow line. So being able to see the transmitter isn't necessarily a guarantee of good reception. This isn't to say anything in the area "will" affect reception, just that it could potentially do.
With the plot we can see that up to around a mile out, the line-of-sight and first Fresnel are close to the ground and therefore anything on the ground could be in the Fresnel zone. Furthermore, the distance I have said is to around one mile out, this according to the plot. The plot samples ground heights at intervals and may therefore not be exactly accurate.
Additionally, I tried a few points along Trepit Road, finding that the terrain isn't flat and that the distance out from the location which the terrain may be within the Fresnel zone (i.e. line-of-sight close to the ground) varies.
With this in mind, I was wondering whether something has been built or changed somewhere along the line between you and the transmitter, up to about a mile, but in particular closer to you. I haven't been able to find anything definite. On looking at the satellite image, my eye was drawn to the houses on St. James Road as they appeared new, although examination of the local planning registry suggests to me that these may be in the region of five or so years old, the original planning application dated December 2014.
That said, particularly if you are to the north of Trepit Road then they do look to be on the signal path (the line between you and the transmitter). I can't help but wonder whether they could be causing some level of degradation in reception, being that they may be in the Fresnel zone for Dryslwyn House and neighbouring properties, particularly on that side of the road.
| link to this comment |
Sunday, 5 November 2023
C
Chris.SE10:37 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Thanks for that excellent detailed analysis Steve. I was contemplating taking a closer look but thought I'd wait and see what Tony1234 said in response to my queries.
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please